I'll sew you

Just a short post to show you the picture of 2 finished projects, as promised. The top is Burda 10/2005-114 and the skirt is a KnipMode pattern from 1998. (I'm aware of the fact that wearing this top doesn't show the topstitching of the skirt, but that's ok). It looks like the hem is uneven but that's just me posing in a hand-on-hip position. I promise you, the hem is very even. And I already posted about the fabric, that it has a very shiny silvery inside. Now it's photographed with a flashlight, the fibers seem to reflect this light, which, I promise!, is absolutely not the case in normal light. (And the flashlight is also, I think, the reason for my pale complexion for I can assure you I look healthier in real life ;) Don't you just love it to be dressed completely in home-sewn garments? Always makes me feel kind-a pride. And then wait till somebody makes a nice comment about it so you can say in a (very) casual way: oh..well...I made it myself. Does not h...

Sunday evening late, I had decided on my next project. So I took the fabric and gave it a good, warm, wash and dry and since I'm using a TNT-pattern, I was able to cut the fabric right away on monday. But I'm ashamed to say that with all the free time I got, I didn't accomplish very much. But I made a start and that's....well...a start, I guess.  It's the same blouse I made in black but now I'm using a slightly more interesting fabric. It's a very soft, double-faced baby-cord, and I'm using both sides. Here is a close-up: The (facings of the) collar and the cuffs will be made showing the 'flowery' inside. The rest of the blouse will be made showing the little dots. (Well, they're not dots actually, they're little arrows, as you can see if you look closely / click on the picture to get a better view). I made one alteration to the pattern. I have swayback-problems so I used a back-seam to be able to do a swayback-adjustmen...

Today I finished the denim skirt. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I didn't have to alter anything to the pattern. I used this pattern before and I can't for the life of me remember if I altered the pattern then. But today when I had my first fitting, it was ok right away, so maybe I did alter it after all. Here it is before I hemmed it. (I don't have a picture of the finished skirt because the daylight was fading fast as I took this picture. I'll show a picture of me wearing it tomorrow). I'm glad the fabric has a bit stretch or else I wouldn't be able to put it on. But once I have it on it fits perfectly. I kept it long so it will look nice with boots as well as with ankle-boots. And as we all like a bit of detail, here's a picture of the topstitching. Now I can think about my next project. I'm not sure yet. It's probably going to be a blouse. But if I want to start on it tomorrow I will have to wash and dry t...

When I was sitting in the train this morning I had a hard time trying nog to fall asleep. Actually I was sooo tired but I thought that was just from work and some relaxing time would do me good. Well, it seemed I was just tired. The kind of tired that makes you want to go asleep. I had a terrible time not to close my eyes. It felt ever so good to do so but I knew it would only take 20 seconds to fall asleep so I had to force myself to keep staring out of the window. On top of that I developed a headache during the day. Thank god I took my sunglasses with me. But hey, that's enough moaning, I did manage to spend some money so here goes: First buy was at the Bodyshop. I bought some handcream, a beautiful box with 3 different body-butters (Mango, Coconut and Sheabutter). The little sample of perfume is a new Bodyshop-perfume, not yet in stores but coming soon: 'Love etc...' Not really my type of perfume. 'Sensuous' by Estée Laude...

Finally, it's here. My long (5-days!) weekend. And today I will go shopping in Antwerp (Belgium). I am about ready to leave. A 10-minute ride to the station in Essen (Belgium, yes I'm living quite near to the Belgian border) and then I will take the train to Antwerp. That will take 31 minutes. No pictures will be taken for I have to use all my strength and both hands to carry all the shoppingbags!! Well, it may just as well be that I will come home with only a few things. It's just going there, exploring shops and all the other fun stuff that's to be found and have a relaxing day. That's all I'm after. If I'm able to get some new stuff, that would be fun but it is not necessary. No fabric shops in Antwerp so no time will be spend there. (Isn't that a shame? I will tell you about that later). Now, I have to go, running late, must hurry......bye! Gr. Lilian

Today I discovered I have 2 followers. Wow, that was really exciting. Turned oud that Dawn from Two On Two Off  and Eugenia from The World of Eugenia  were so kind to check out my blog and leave a comment. Ladies, let me tell you I'm honored. Hope you (and more to come) will take the time every now and then to see what's happening over here. I surely will be checking your (gorgeous) blogs. Thank you.. Gr. Lilian

Sunday I started on my denim skirt. The sewing part that was, for I already cut the fabric on saturday. Everything was going to plan until someone decided he had to join me.... I think his thoughts went like this: "Well, let's first judge the project...Ok, fabric is good enough to lie on and to fall asleep on. So...let's choose a position. Yeah..this is the right one......zzzzzzz....." Needless to say that my work on the skirt ended right there and then. I just couldn't interfere with this happy sleeping situation. Hey..don't say I'm weak. You cat-lovers out there will understand me!! Luckily I made some pictures before my sewing table was taken over. This is what I'm working on right now. It's a pattern from an old KnipMode from march 1998. I'm making the long version. I didn't accomplish very much up until now for first my cat was interfering and then life (i.e. work) was interfering. Maybe I will do some more sewing this evening. We...

After a short time of blogging anonymously, I finally decided it was time to start following some blogs and showing my face. I first wanted to find out if blogging is something for me. I'm known for starting things very enthusiastically but giving up after a short while for not getting the results I want. Or getting bored. Or feeling that it's all 'more of the same'. But this blogging-thing has turned out to be a very addictive thing. Though I'm not blogging everyday, I think it's really fun to do so. So if anyone of you has been so kind to check out who their new follower is, and has therefore landed on this site, then please feel free to leave a comment. I would like that very much !!!! Gr. Lilian

Sorry, Everyone, for singing such high praise over my own achievements, but I'm HAPPY. My top turned out very nicely. This is just what I needed to get my sewing-juices flowing again. Well, here it is: I like everything about it. The fabric, the fit, the collar (its drapieness). I definitely will make this top more often. It's a fantastic piece for autumn and winter. Those of you who are trying to achieve perfection in their homesewn garments will already have seen something in the picture that's not so great. Did you see it? Look at the hems of the sleeves and the way the pattern of the fabric is different in both sleeves. Yeah..not so great. But let me tell you that this fabric was all over the place where the print was concerned. I had a tough time cutting my parts so that the prints were the same on both sides. If you look at the top of the sleeves the print matches perfectly. So I don't see how I could have avoided this problem. Only thing would be shortening ...

Today I started a new project. It's a simple long-sleeved shirt with a wide, draped collar, pattern 114 from Burda 10/2005: I had just the perfect fabric for it. I'ts a soft, rather thin knit (click on the picture to get a good view of the fabric) and it promised to drape very well , quite important as the collar needs to be draped a lot. The print is in black and gray. No white in sight, although the picture seems to tell otherwise. The white you (think you) see is actually a soft grey. I have already sewn the shoulder and sideseams. I closed the sleeves and the collar is ready to be attached. It drapes very well I have to say. Of course I used my serger which makes it all more of a fun project.  So far, this top looks very promising. I put it on for the first time and I can say that I hád my WOW-moment I was talking about in my last post. So needless to say I'm very happy at this point. I did change a few things for this pattern. I started with a size ...

Well, here it is then. The dress. Finished. Looks quite lovely in the picture, doesn't it? Well let me tell you, if I wear it I get really frustrated. I mentioned earlier that I have to stand straightup to avoid any gapes in the upper-front. Also do I keep fidging and pulling on the dress to make the hem look even. If I have just put it on the waistband sits about 5 cm higher in the back than in the front. Pullinggggg!!!! What will happen if I wear this for one day and forget to pull every five minutes? (Dread to think about that..) So, I'm afraid to say that the problems mentioned earlier are still there. Obviously, because I didn't do anything to solve them. I just don't know whát to do to solve them. The only solution I can think of is letting the frontparts sink under the waistband for a merely 2 or 3 centimeters. But with my luck that will alter the complete look of it. And with all the pleating in the front, that just isn't an option for me. I just don...

Alas, not much sewing going on this week. I always manage to do some sewing on sundays and mondays but after that it stops for the rest of the week. Work is really killing my energy at the moment and I just can't bring myself to do something else in the evening than vegetate in front of the TV or, if I can find the courage to switch on my laptop, read some blogs (which I find very relaxing by the way!). But most of the time I get jealous when I'm reading about all the sewing others are doing and knowing that my week seems to be lost to the sewingworld. Well, one more workday, a busy saterday with all the things I've got planned and then maybe I can bring myself to finish the dress I started at the beginning of this week.  I already sewed the skirt to the upperpart, as you can see. The colour in the first picture is almost the real colour. But it's more of a petrol-blue in real life. The colour in the second picture is way-off, but I like it f...